Fishing lures are designed to attract game fish, get them to strike and capture them, typically with a barbed hook. Most lures are made with colors and shapes designed to attract fish. Many are shaped so that they wobble and wiggle as they are pulled through the water, mimicking the actions of a bait animal such as a minnow. Some lures have contrivances that give off scents to attract game fish.
One such contrivance for emitting scents is to fashion an elongate chamber in the body of the lure and a perforated container configured to be inserted therein, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,780 to Hobson. The perforated container can be loaded with a scent producing material, then the loaded container is inserted into the chamber. Vents penetrate the side of the lure into the elongate chamber providing a way for scent to diffuse out of the perforated container. However, Hopson's lure has several disadvantages. The perforated container is rather small and cannot contain much scent producing material. The vents allow for diffusion, which may be an adequate mechanism for a stationary lure, but not for a moving lure. Hopson's lure does not have any structure that takes advantage of the motion of the lure through the water to force water through the container. Additionally, the container is closed with a tiny cap that would be easy to drop and lose, particularly in the types of environments in which fishers often find themselves. Furthermore, the container has a tang that fits in a recess in the elongate chamber to hold the container in place. The container is removed by bending the lure. Of course, a fish striking the lure or fighting once hooked can exert forces on the lure, causing it to bend, thereby releasing and losing the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,490,319 to Mancini describes a fishing lure with a mouth opening in the head that communicates with side vent holes. Scent producing material may be inserted into the mouth opening. The motion of the lure through the water will drive water through the mouth, past the scent producing material, and out the side vents. This design takes advantage of the motion of the lure through the water to disperse scent into the water. However, the mouth opening is relatively small and so will not hold much scented material. Also, there is no mechanism for securing the scented material, so it is likely to fall out. In fact, the inventor appears to intend that a specially made “scent stick” be used. Most fishers would prefer to vary the type of scented material they use, experimenting to find what works best for a particular locale and type of game fish.
Application WO 97/32471 to Hägg describes a hollow lure composed of two mirror inverted shell parts, delimiting between them a long narrow cavity. A longitudinal partition wall separates an upper, air-filled chamber from a lower chamber into which scent producing material may be placed. The lower chamber has an inlet hole and an outlet hole, which flushes water through the lower chamber, facilitating the spreading of scent. However, the Hägg lure only provides for a small scent producing tablet to be inserted into the lower chamber via a removable nose part. Adding or removing other types of scent producing material, such as a piece of bait chum, would be difficult. Furthermore, since the lure is hollow, it is not as mechanically strong as a solid lure. The fishing line is attached to the nose end and the hooks are distributed along the body of the lure. A fish striking or fighting the lure can produce stresses in the hollow lure body that can break the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,669 to Kallas describes a hollow lure comprising two half shells that snap together. The half shells can readily unsnap to introduce scent producing material into the chamber between the shells, then re-snap. The shells are additionally held together with one or more short pieces of surgical tubing. A recess in the shells holds the piece of surgical tubing in place. However, when the shells are taken apart to add or remove scent producing material, the piece of surgical tubing must be completely removed from the lure and set aside. There is a significant chance that the piece of surgical tubing will be lost while the lure is open. No hooks are attached directly to the lure, but to a common fishing line to which the lure is also attached. This avoids the problem of transmitting the forces from the fish fighting the lure through the thin walled lure. However, it is not as desirable to have the hooks separate from the lure as there is a substantial possibility that a fish will strike the lure but avoid the hooks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,138 to Gilbert describes a fishing lure with a hollow body providing an interior chamber divided into a buoyancy chamber in a forward portion and a bait chamber in an aft portion. Access to the bait chamber is provided by a hinged cover in the bait chamber or a hinged connection between the forward portion of the lure body and the aft portion of the lure body. The Gilbert lure does not have any mechanism from holding closed the hinged cover or hinged aft portion, relying instead on motion through the water to hold closed. This has the disadvantage that when the lure is not moving through the water, the hinged hatch may open and the bait fall out.